Watch Wednesday #2: The Military is for the Good-Looking

I love Watch Wednesday. My friends and family (specifically my little brother) have probably had enough with my constant nerd film or TV suggestions, which is quickly followed up with, “HAVE YOU WATCHED IT YET?!”

So, yeah, it’s good to have this blog to come and type out why great shows are so legit. This especially includes Korean dramas. I have a lot of people that love me… but not enough for K-dramas. Not quite. Darn it.

This week’s Watch Wednesday is one such suggestion.

Descendants of the Sun

I love the first episode of Descendants of the Sun. The lead romantic couple–a surgeon and a Captain of the South Korean Special Forces Unit–meet under hilarious circumstances and thus the story of their romance begins. However, Descendants has so much more to it other than a military-based romance, and that’s why I liked it so much. There are certain things that didn’t make the story as enjoyable, but the parts that were good were just so freaking good that it didn’t really matter.

Now, let’s just address that apparently the South Korean military is chocked full of extremely attractive people. Like, so many. And they enjoy running each morning the dancing rays of the sunrise… shirtless. And I’m totally okay with this. I can certainly back something like that.

But, of course, these are just regular tropes of television you seen anywhere. HOTTIES FOR EVERYONE. Descendants uses this for all the humor that it is, and I love it. Even with all the drama, this show has a great sense of humor.

Beyond all the romance, it’s the ensemble cast and their character building within large-scale events that truly made me love this show. This is most likely a vague statement if you’ve never seen the show, but a large part of the story involves Doctor Kang Mo-yeon and her team of doctors unwillingly being sent to Uruk to serve as a medical team. Of course, Captain Yoo Si-Jin and his special forces team are stationed there.

While stationed in Uruk, both teams of professionals are involved in an earthquake as well as an epidemic. There’s death, and the effect to the people who are are in charge of rescuing people and saving lives. That was the biggest appeal to me in this show.

I loved the romance–I always do–even behind all the tropes and cliches. But what’s really great about Descendants of the Sun is how well they displayed the working lives of doctors and soldiers, in various forms. This isn’t something I’ve really been exposed to in television.

Descendants of the Sun is currently streaming in its entirety on Netflix. If you’ve never watched a foreign TV drama before, it’s a great first watch.